Shelley Rubin is a philanthropist and cultural leader who believes that art and cultural enrichment have the power to change lives in straightforward, practical ways.

In 2004, Shelley and Donald Rubin founded the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City, with the aim of building a broad and thoughtful audience for Himalayan art. The Museum offers a wide range of cultural and educational programs aimed at contextualizing the museum's collections for an audience of both adults and students. It is at the same time an international center for the study and presentation of Himalayan art-a resource for scholars worldwide. From the outset, Shelley was committed to creating a uniquely welcoming and peaceful physical environment, with richly colored spaces that are by turns both intimate and dramatic. Her determination has helped to make RMA both a meditative oasis in the city and a vibrant community institution.

As co-chair of the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and board member of Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, THIRTEEN/WNET and Human Rights Watch, Shelley has supported numerous cultural and humanitarian projects that use art and culture to make lives concretely better all over the world. The Foundation funds specific arts initiatives, such as themed residencies that bring artists working in the Himalayan region and in Cuba to the Vermont Studio Center. It also invests in a number of web-based educational resources such as Arts of the Islamic World, Himalayan Art Resources, and Treasury of Lives. These projects bring cultures together by archiving and presenting vast amounts of biographical, historical and iconographic data so that it is available for any curious person to access worldwide. The Foundation's commitment to the practical application of art is probably best represented by Music and Memory, an initiative that promotes access to personalized music to improve the health and quality of life for the elderly and infirm.

Shelley's drive to actively engage the arts community in New York, understand the practical problems that artists in the city face as they live and work, and expand the relationship between art and life and create new audiences led to the founding of A Blade of Grass in 2011.

Kim Brizzolara is a feature film and documentary producer, and private investor; and serves as advisor to several non-profit organizations. She is Executive Vice Chair of the Hampton's International Film Festival, where in 1999, she co-founded the signature program "Films of Conflict & Resolution", which she continues to oversee.

Ms. Brizzolara also serves on the boards of The We are Family Foundation, Creative Visions and the Women's Leadership Board at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

She is currently producing a documentary shot in China and a feature film in Paris, based on a memoir of a blind hero of the French Resistance, co-produced with Martin Scorsese.

She started her career as a journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer, and later worked with Kerry Kennedy at the Robert Kennedy Center for Human Rights, where she began to focus on the area of international conflict resolution. She then served as a grants maker for the Threshold Foundation, where she designated funds to nonprofit organizations that focus on peace and national security issues; as acting director of the Coexistence Center at Baruch College School of Public Affairs; and worked in fund-raising and wrote position papers for various political campaigns.

Ms. Brizzolara has an MA in Journalism from Boston University and a BA from American University.

Since 2002, Tom Finkelpearl has served as the Executive Director of the Queens Museum of Art where he is working on an expansion that will double the size of the museum.  The Queens Museum is situated in America's most diverse county, and it seeks to serve as a cultural crossroads through art programs, community organizing, and educational outreach. He worked for 12 years during two periods at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, first organizing 15 exhibitions in the 1980's, returning in 1999 as Deputy Director and helping to manage its merger with the Museum of Modern Art.  Between his stints at P.S.1, he worked for six years (1990-96) as Director of New York City's Percent for Art Program where he oversaw 130 public art projects and as Executive Director of Program at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, a residency program in Maine for advanced visual artists (1996-1999). Based on his public art experience and further research, he published a book, Dialogues in Public Art (MIT Press, 2000). He is in the final stages of a new book, The Art of Social Cooperation forthcoming from Duke University Press. He received a BA from Princeton University (1979) and an MFA from Hunter College (1983).

Social, educational and environmental philanthropist, Eva Haller, was 12 years old in 1942 when she joined her older brother, John, in the Hungarian resistance. At night they worked in a secret printing press hideout, making anti-Hitler leaflets and then distributing them throughout Budapest.

When her city was occupied by German forces, and the Jews were being rounded up to be sent to a horrible fate, Haller faced off a Nazi officer and convinced him she was far too young to die. He miraculously let her go, and she remained in hiding throughout World War II.

Just months before Hungary was liberated, Haller's brother was killed as he was crossing the Yugoslavian border to join Tito and his partisans. In his memory, she dedicates her life to those in trouble, acting as both philanthropist and advocate.

Haller immigrated to the United States. She cleaned houses during the day and went to school at night, earning a Masters Degree in social work from Hunter College.

In 1965, she joined Dr. Martin Luther King's Selma march which galvanized her activist spirit and bonded her heart to the pertinent movements and issues of her new country.

She left social work to start a marketing company with her late husband. Their company was among the first to advocate for women's issues. By 1968, the team had earned an enormous sum for the time: $1 million. The couple left to volunteer with UNICEF to work in Southeast Asia.

After their return to the United States with a renewed commitment to women's issues, they reopened their business. The proceeds of their success allowed Haller to pursue the philanthropic projects that she says are her life's purpose. "My life has always been a response to perceived need," she says.

A dedicated activist, Eva has served as a member of the boards of many non-profits, including the Jane Goodall Institute and Women for Women International. She is a trustee of the University of California at Santa Barbara Foundation, the Rubin Museum of Art, the Creative Vision Foundation. Eva is Board Chair of Free the Children USA, and board Chair of Sing for Hope. She also serves on the board of A Blade of Grass, Culture Project, and Video Volunteers.

She has received numerous Humanitarian Awards in the USA and throughout the world.

Eva continues to promote peace and social policies and helps mentor others to do likewise.

Basha Frost Rubin graduated from Yale Law School in 2010 and Yale College with a degree in Political Science in 2007. At Yale, Basha participated in the National Litigation Project, assisting Guantanamo detainees, and the Criminal Defense Clinic, working on state and federal criminal defense cases. She has worked for the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. She is currently a lawyer in New York City.

Daniel Schwartz is the Executive Director of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

Schwartz is also the founder and Chairman of the Board of Dynamica, Inc., a multi-family office serving some of the world's leading philanthropists with an emphasis on philanthropic strategy and political advocacy. He is a co-creator of Arbinet, the world's largest telecommunications bandwidth exchange (NASDAQ: ARBX).

Listed by Black Ink, the American Express Centurion cardholders' magazine, as one the country's most influential philanthropists, Schwartz is actively engaged in the non-profit community and serves or has served on the boards of Chief Executives Organization (CEO), Synergos, the GAVI Campaign, the Arcus Foundation, the Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary (Kenya), the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, the Young Presidents' Organization (YPO), the Friends of Florence Foundation, Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel, Reboot, Sing for Hope, and K.I.D.S. (Kids in Distressed Situations). He is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Council on Foreign Relations, and of the Synergos Global Philanthropist Circle, a non-profit organization that addresses global poverty and social injustice. He served as a co-chair of the Harvard College Schools Committee in NYC.

A frequent speaker and author in the areas of effective global philanthropy and entrepreneurship, Schwartz has presented to audiences at The UBS Philanthropy Forum, the World Economic Forum, McKinsey & Co., the Badenweiler Symposium, and at many international YPO conferences.

Schwartz received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Harvard University. He was selected as one of Crain's New York Business' "40 under 40" emerging business leaders, and was named as one of the 100 Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Eileen Caulfield Schwab, retired partner at Sidley Austin LLP. Ms. Schwab has lectured and written on numerous domestic and certain international trusts and estates and tax subjects. In addition, Ms. Schwab is an adjunct professor at New York Law School. She is also a trustee and member of the executive committee of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts as well as the Rubin Museum of Art; a trustee and chair of the Cooke Center for Learning and Development; a trustee of the Catholic Communal Fund and Chair of the Planning Giving Committee of the Archdiocese of New York. Ms. Schwab is also on the Professional Advisory Committees of Calvary Hospital, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Arts & Design, the New York Public Library, Co-Chair, the Central Park Conservancy, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Ms. Schwab earned a J.D. from Columbia University Law School, and a B.A. from Hunter College.